Literary Arts Week is a new initiative from GBCA. Working with the Maryland State Arts Council and CityLit Project, several literary events are coordinated to take place in one week to show the breadth and diversity of literary events in the region. All of the events are free as part of Free Fall Baltimore.
Literary Arts Week takes place in the fall of every year. More information on individual events are listed below. Additional information can be found by clicking here.
2013 LITERARY ARTS WEEK SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Pre-Week Event: “Poe Open House”
Host organization: Poe Baltimore
Date: October 5-6 from 12-6 PM *continues through all weekends of October
Location: Poe House, 203 N. Amity Street, Baltimore, 21223
Website: www.poeinbaltimore.org
The historic Poe House in Baltimore resurrects for free open hours during October (weekends 12-4pm). Check out the house as it undergoes new exhibit installations and learn about Poe Baltimore, the new organization charged with maintaining the house and promoting Poe’s legacy in Baltimore and beyond. Enjoy special opening and closing events on the first and last weekends of October.
“It Happened In The Harbor”
Host organization: Playwrights Group of Baltimore and Magis Theatre
Date: October 8 at 8 PM
Location:The Reading Room, 3rd Floor, Andrew White Student Center, Loyola University, 4501 N. Charles Street
Media Contact:Susan Middaugh, smiddaugh@aol.com
Staged readings of a suite of 10-minute plays. Each play will take place among one of Baltimore’s harbors, from the Inner Harbor to Fort Point Channel, set in any time period.
Reading by Charles Belfoure
Host organization:Enoch Pratt Free Library
Date: October 8 at 6 PM
Location: Reisterstown Road Branch, 6310 Reisterstown Road, Baltimore 21215
Tickets: To reserve tickets visit, www.prattlibrary.org or call, 410-396-0948
Maryland architect and author of The Paris Architect, reads from his debut novel.
Literary Mount Vernon Walking Tours
Host organization: Maryland Humanities Council
Date: October 9 at 11:00 AM
Location: Meet in front of the Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch, 400 Cathedral St.
Tickets:To reserve a spot, visit www.MtVernonLitWalk.eventbrite.com *20 available
Take this 90 minute walking tour with the Maryland Humanities Council, following in the footsteps of Baltimore’s literary luminaries past Mount Vernon’s elegant mansions and majestic cultural institutions, built by successful 19th century merchants and industrialists. Learn how a neighborhood of scholars, struggling artists and authors, newspapermen, philanthropists, and social reformers offered rich opportunities to discuss and debate ideas and open new literary avenues.
Dylan Landis, Reading with Q&A
Host organization:Towson University Reading Series
Date:October 9 from 6-7 PM
Location:Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252, Room 3150 of the College of Liberal Arts Building
Media Contact: Michael Downs, mdowns@towson.edu
Dylan Landis, author of Normal People Don’t Live Like This, a novel-in-stories that Elizabeth Strout called a “wonderful, intriguing and original debut,” will read from her fiction and answer questions. Books will be available for sale and signing.
Pop-Up Lit-Shop
Host organization:EMP Collective and Ink Press Productions
Date:October 10 from 6-10 PM
Location: EMP Collective, 307 W Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201
Website: www.empcollective.org
A one-night-only literary bazaar. Featuring words, works, and wares by artists from Baltimore and beyond.
“An Evening of Dead Baltimore Authors”
Host organization: University of Baltimore and Baltimore Heritage Inc.
Date: October 10 at 7:30 PM
Location: Wright Theatre, University of Baltimore Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Avenue, Baltimore MD 21201
A reading of short excerpts of work by some of Baltimore’s most famous authors: Poe, Mencken, Nash, Stein, Fitzgerald, and others.
“Chuck Palahniuk’s Adult Bedtime Stories”
Host organization: Enoch Pratt Free Library
Date:October 11 at 7 PM (doors open at 6 PM)
Location: Central Library, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore MD 21201 (Main Hall, 1st floor)
Tickets: To reserve tickets visit, www.prattlibrary.org/writerslive *250-300 tickets available.
Bestselling author Chuck Palahniuk talks about his new book, Doomed, plus other entertainments. Admission: $25 per person (includes a signed copy of Palahniuk’s book, plus reserved seating).
New Mercury @Mencken House
Host organization: The New Mercury Nonfiction Reading Series and the Friends of H.L. Mencken House
Date: October 12 from 2-4 PM
Location:H.L. Mencken House, 1524 Hollins St., Baltimore, MD 21223
Website: www.thenewmercuryreadings.com; www.menckenhouse.org
The New Mercury Nonfiction Reading Series, inspired by Mencken’s American Mercury magazine, comes home to Hollins Street with readings by 3 Baltimore writers and the Sage of Baltimore himself (Mencken impersonator John Dausch).
Sidewalk Stories: A Literary Walking Tour of Bolton Hill
Host organization:CityLit Press with Jennifer Wallace
Date: October 12 from 10-11:30 AM
Location:The Corner of Lafayette and Mt. Royal Avenue in front of Corpus Christi Church; please arrive promptly at 10 AM
Tickets: Tour is free, but pre-registration is required by emailing your name and all names in your party to info@citylitproject.org by Friday October 11.
Local author and photographer, Jennifer Wallace (It Can be Solved by Walking, CityLit Press), leads a walk in Bolton Hill with stops at key landmarks like the house where F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—and readings from her own collection of observations and impressions of one of Baltimore’s most literary neighborhoods. Discounted books will be available for purchase.
Mt. Vernon Literary Walking Tour
Host organization: Maryland Humanities Council
Date:October 13 at 11 AM
Location:Meet in front of the Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch, 400 Cathedral St.
Tickets:To reserve a spot, visit, www.MtVernonLitWalk.eventbrite.com *20 available
Follow in the footsteps of Baltimore’s literary luminaries, 19thC merchants, and industrialists on this 90 minute guided tour of Mt. Vernon.
“Writing 9 to 5”
Host organization: The Baltimore Review and the Baltimore Museum of Industry
Date: October 13 from 1-3 PM
Location: Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway, Baltimore, MD 21230
Tickets:To reserve tickets, please register with the editor@baltimorereview.org *seating is limited to 20
Celebrate the workplace history of Baltimore with an open mic reading of your work-related stories and poems at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Writing prompts from the editors of the Baltimore Review will help you craft your working life into literary art.
“Lit and Art at the Watermark”
Host organization:The Watermark Gallery
Date: October 13 from 2-5 PM
Location:The Watermark Gallery, 100 S. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. Second floor of the Bank of America building
A showcase of local, national, and international talent- with live music and open mic! Hosted by Baltimore authors, Nitin Jagdish and Eric D. Goodman, with artist, Manzar.
Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance 